Drinks may be contaminated by microorganisms, which in the end leads to spoilage and uselessness of the product. Furthermore, microbial contamination of drinks represents a health risk to the user. Survival or growth of microorganisms in the drinks is prevented by using chemical preservatives. Germs are increasingly noticeable in drinks, which germs were identified for the first time as causing drink spoilage a little over ten years ago and appear with increasing frequency. These take the form of bacteria which belong to the family of acetic acid bacteria and especially to the genus Asaia, Neoasaia, Acetobacter, Gluconobacter, Gluconacetobecter or similar (Yamada, Y. and Yukphan, P., Genera and species in acetic acid bacteria. International Journal of Food Microbiology, 125, 15-24, 2008). It has been increasingly shown that preservatives are not sufficiently potent enough and are therefore used at very high concentrations in order to prevent the bacteria mentioned being able to propagate end thereby accordingly contaminating the drink (Horsakova, I., et al., Asaia sp, as a bacterium decaying the packaged still fruit beverages., Czech. Journal of Food Science, 27, 362-365, 2009). The use of high concentrations of preservatives, however, is undesirable from an economic point of view and is limited by statutory regulations.
A preservative composed of potassium sorbate and/or sodium benzoate and dimethyl carbonate and ascorbic acid is known from WO 96/09774 and is suitable for sterilizing and preserving drinks. A disadvantage of this preservative is also that it does not act efficiently against acetic acid bacteria.
The use of sulphur dioxide in high concentrations to control the growth of acetic acid bacteria is known from Watanabe and Ino, 1984 (Watanabe, M. L. and Ino S.; Studies on bacteria isolated from Japanese wine. Part 2. Growth of the Acetobacter sp. A-1 during the fermentation and storage of grape must and red wine. Yamanashi-ken Shokuhin Kogyo Shidosho Kenkyu Hokoku 16:13, 1984) and also from Juven, B. J. and Shomen, I., (Juven, B. J. and Shomen, I., Spoilage of soft drinks caused by bacterial flocculation. Journal of Food Protection, 48, 52, 1985). A disadvantage of this method is also that the efficacy is not efficient enough and so high concentrations of sulphur dioxide must be used which frequently negatively affect the flavour of the drink and can cause allergic reactions.
There was therefore a continuing need for a method for sterilizing drinks in which acetic acid bacteria are efficiently removed and the disadvantages of the prior art are overcome.